Solemnity of Saint Joseph

 Today the Universal Church celebrates the feast of Saint Joseph. It is a solemnity, the highest order of feasts because it celebrates one who is so important in salvation history. All solemnities are feasts but not all feasts are solemnities (Click here to understand the difference)  In today's Mass, a solemnity, we prayed the Creed as well as the Gloria, which are normally  only prayed for Sunday Mass.

Saint Joseph was the foster father of Jesus and descendant of King David and he is the patron saint of the whole Church as well as families and carpenters. He is also know as the patron saint of a Happy Death. Tradition has it that he died peacefully in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Thus we invoke his intercession for others as they approach their physical death that they too would be carried to God in the presence of Jesus and his mother Mary.

 Saint Joseph is my patron saint and I often ask him for his intercession. I was born at Saint Joseph's Hospital in NJ, my middle name is Joseph, and  now as a Catholic,  attend Saint Joseph the Worker  Catholic Church. I asked for Saint Joseph's intercession to sell my house in the beginning of an incredibly difficult real estate market 4 years ago and  God answered my prayers through his intercession.

                                                                A statue of Saint Joseph in my studio

I have named my studio St. Joseph Studios, as I can hear the bells of Saint Joseph in my home which is conveniently just down the street from the Church. In my last house, my studio was called Loud Train Studios (you can figure out why)

Here's a neat site with devotions to Saint Joseph.